Exhibit device.



0. E. KELLUM.

EXHIBIT DEVICE.

- APPLICATION FILED D30. 2, 1910.

Patented Aug. 1, 1911.

ORLANDO E. KELLUM, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL STREET AND STATION INDICATOR COMPANY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORA- TION OF CALIFORNIA.

EXHIBIT DEVICE.

Application filed December 2, 1910.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORLANDO E. KELLUM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Exhibit Devices, of which the following is a specificatime.

This invention relates to a device for use as a station indicator, advertising exhibitor, directory, or any other similar device where it is desired to successively expose different sets of information, such as advertising cards or plates bearing the names of streets.

It will be seen from. the following description that my invention is capable of application to any and all of these devices and uses, the differences comprising merely the information placed upon the exhibit cards or plates.

The mechanism is designed to use single cards or plates unattached and disconnected from each other. This in itself is an advantage in that the separate plates may be easily removed or new plates inserted or substituted without disturbing the re mainder. Added to this simplicity is the simplicity of the mechanism for exhibiting the plates one by one. The plates are arranged to pass around a preferably circular track 1' guideway, the plate moving mechanism being placed in and interrupting the guideway at its lowermost point. The moving mechanism takes a single plate at a time from one side of the guideway and moves it downwardly to a position where it may be conveniently viewed on both sides, the next movement placing this plate on the other side of the guideway and, at the same time, taking a new plate and placing it in the exhibiting position.

The construction and operation will become clearer on consideration of the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical cross section of my device and taken on line 11 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

It will be understood that I have shown in these drawings the preferred form of my invention as it now stands.

It will become apparent from the following specification and claim that there are many alternative forms which may be em- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented A11 1, 1911.

Serial No. 595,317.

ployed in lieu of the specific mechanisms shown and described.

The scope of the invention will become clearer from consideration of the following specification and claim.

Referring now to the drawings, 5 designates an approximately cylindrical case formed with end plates 6, side wall 7 and having an extension on its bottom which is inclosed by a casing 8 of glass or other transparent material. The top of the case is provided with a hinged door 9 for the placement and withdrawal of the exhibit plates. The whole case is held together in some simple manner, as by rods 10 extending between end plates 6 and provided with nuts which engage each side of the end plates. Vithin the case and on each of the end plates 6 a circular guideway track is formed between two strips 16, this guideway extending around the case as is shown in Fig. 1, and being intercepted near the bottom by another guideway 17 of smaller diameter and formed of only a single strip 18. Guideway 17 extends to a point below its point of interception with guideway 15, so that when the plates are carried to the lowermost point of guideway 17, they are free from obstruction by the plates hanging from guideway 15. Outer strip 16 is out at its uppermost point to allow the placement and removal of plates.

Mounted in the case in bearings 20 on end plates 6 is a shaft 21 carrying two disks 22 provided with notches 23 in their peripheries. These notches are spaced apart by half the circumferential length of guideway 17 so that, as shown in Fig. 1, when one of the notches is at its lowermost point, there will be a notch at each of the points of intersection of guideways 15 and 17. Disks 22 are so placed and of such diameter that their peripheries pass closely to strip 18 and the bottoms of notches 23 rotate in a path which is about as far inside strip 18 as the two strips 16 are apart.

Exhibit plates extend across the case and are provided with pins 31 which project from each end of the plate and are adapted to ride in guideways 15 and 17. These pins may be and are so shown in the drawings, continuous rods which extend along one edge of the plates and project at each end, the plates being thereby stiffened and prevented from bending under the weight of the plates carried upon them. The plates may either be rigidly attached to the rods or swingingly hung thereon, the latter method facilitating the vertical hanging of the plates. The number of plates placed in the device is of no consequence; the machine will operate as well with only a few plates as with its maximum capacity.

In operation, disks 22 are intermittently rotated through that portion of a revolution measured by the distance between successive notches 23. In this case the distance is one sixth of a revolution and the required movement is supplied through the medium of a ratchet wheel 35 mounted on the end of shaft 21 outside the case. The mechanism which accomplishes this intermittent motion is of no consequence to the present invention; so far as that is concerned the present mechanism may be operated by hand as well as by a mechanism. Supposing the plates to be in the position shown, a movement of disks 22 in the direction indicated will move plate 3O toward the right and into the position occupied by plate 30*. Plate 30 will be forced upwardly around guideways 15 to the position now occupied by plate 30, the whole row of plates being forced around the guideway. For the purpose of forcing the pins into the guideways the ends of the strips are extended, as shown at 15*. In the meantime plate 30 which is shown with its pins 81 engaged by one of notches 23, will be moved down to the position now occupied by plate 30 The weight of the pile of plates in the left hand side of groove 15 will cause plate 30 to move down to the position now occupied by 30 and engage its pins 31 with notch 23 which has just moved into position to receive them. It will be seen that the normal periphery of disks 22 projects far enough to prevent any of the plates slipping down around guideway 17 except as they are fed around by the notched disks. These notched disks are merely typical of equivalent devices for moving the plate to one side of the guideway. The two notched disks may be superseded by a single disk or cylinder, and, although I have shown the movement of the plates in circular paths, it will be understood that this is not necessarily the case, but that for simplicity these circular paths are probably best. When the number of plates is small, it will be seen that they will not form a pile suficiently high to pass over the top of guideway 15. In such a case it is not necessary that guideway 15 be continuous at the top.

Having described my invention, I claim:

An exhibit device, comprising a case, a circular guideway arranged on the opposite inner vertical faces of the case, a second set of circular guideways intercepting the first set near their lowermost points and forming continuations of the first named guideways, exhibit plates having pins projecting from their ends and adapted to ride in the guideways, a rotatable member mounted in the case concentric with the second named guideways, said member having notched peripheries adjacent and parallel to said guideways, the notches in the peripheries adapted to engage with the projecting pins on the exhibit plates.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 23rd day of November 1910.

ORLANDO E. KELLUM.

Witnesses:

ELwooD I-I. BARKELEW, JAS. H. BALLAGI-I.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

